NAME
"Class::ByOS" - write object classes that load OS-specific subclasses at
runtime
SYNOPSIS
This module is for authors of object classes. A class might be written
as
package System::Wobble;
use Class::ByOS;
# NOT new()
sub __new
{
my $class = shift;
my @args = @_;
...
return bless { internals => here }, $class;
}
sub wobble
{
# we'll just shell out to the 'wobble' binary
system( "wobble" );
}
1;
The user of this class doesn't need to know the details; it can be used
like
use System::Wobble;
my $wobbler = System::Wobble->new();
$wobbler->wobble;
An OS-specific implementation can be provided in a subclass
package System::Wobble::wobblyos;
use base qw( System::Wobble );
use WobblyOS::Wobble qw( sys_wobble );
sub wobble { sys_wobble() }
1;
DESCRIPTION
Often a module will provide a general functionallity that in some way
uses the host system's facilities, but in a way that can either benefit
from, or requires an implementation specific to that host OS. Examples
might be IO system calls, access to networking or hardware devices,
kernel state, or other specific system internals.
By implementing a base class using this module, a special constructor is
formed that, at runtime, probes the available modules, constructing an
instance of the most specific subclass that is appropriate. This allows
the object's methods, including its actual constructor, to be overridden
for particular OSes, in order to provide functionallity specifically to
that OS, without sacrificing the general nature of the base class.
The end-user program that uses such a module does not need to be aware
of this magic. It simply constructs an object in the usual way by
calling the class's "new()" method and use the object reference
returned.
EXPORTED CONSTRUCTOR
$obj = $class->new( @args )
By default, this module exports a "new()" function into its importer,
which is the constructor actually called by the end-user code. This
constructor will determine the best subclass to use (see
"find_best_subclass()"), then invoke the "__new()" method on that class,
passing in all its arguments.
FUNCTIONS
$class = find_best_subclass( $baseclass )
This function attempts to find suitable subclasses for the base class
name given. Candidates for being chosen will be
"$class::$^O"
$class
For each candidate, it will be picked if that package provides a
method called "__new". If it does not exist yet, then an attempt
will be made to load the package using "require". If this attempt
succeeds and the "__new" method now exists, then the candidate will
be picked.
TODO
* Get "find_best_subclass()" to check OS family names too. E.g.
"linux" would also try Unix, or POSIX, or something of that nature.
Need a source of these names from somewhere. Tempted to try
"Devel::CheckOS" but that can't distinguish OS names from families,
nor can it provide taxonomy ordering.
AUTHOR
Paul Evans